Baraza

Category: Africa, Lions, Podcasts, conservation | Date: Nov 03 2009 | By: paula

I am amazed! Someone took our blog post and podcast about lion vs warthog in the Masai Mara and mashed it up to produce this great Youtube video!

Thank you Tigersandme!

And all of you out there please feel free to do the same - send us links to your mashups!

Tags: conservation, Kenya, Lion, Lions, Maasai, Masai Mara, warthog, wildlife, wildlifedirect

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Category: Africa, Lions, big cats, furadan | Date: Oct 13 2009 | By: paula

This article is in today’s Washington Post and is written by a good friend of WildlfeDirect, Dereck Joubert

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Just 50 years ago there were close to a half-million lions in Africa — about 450,000 in all. Today there are between 16,000 and 23,000. And yet, unlike elephants (a far more numerous species), lions have no protection under the international accord governing such matters.

Big cats are in trouble everywhere. The number of tigers has dipped below 3,000. Indeed, as we look at the lion population today, it’s the shadow of the tiger’s history that scares me most. Tiger bones are used extensively in the East for medicines and mythological (read nonsense) cures for ailments or limp libidos, and the demand is increasing. A growing demand and a disappearing supply is a formula for disaster.

The solution we are seeing play out is a switch from tiger bones to lion bones, which can be easily sold off as tiger bones. It’s ironic that the most famous animal in Africa, perhaps in the world, can’t even be poached on its own value but only as a “mock tiger.”

This week the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is meeting to decide whether lions, whose numbers have declined by 50 percent in the past 20 years, are worthy of protection under Appendix I to the convention: the listing of the most endangered animals. The problem is that the safari hunting industry and buyers in Asia are opposing it, because such a decree would limit what they can do with the trophies. Fact: Appendix I does not mean you can’t shoot a lion — it means you can’t import the skin to hang on the wall. And the answer to the question we are asked a thousand times is: Yes, you can still go to Africa to kill a lion.

CITES needs a country to sponsor the motion for lion protection. We can’t, so far, get one to put its hand up first, to take on the issue and save lions. No one will risk offending big safari hunting lobbies. It would seem that many are just not thinking this through. Extinction threatens by the year 2020. Then there will be no lions to hunt, or to protect.

(Meanwhile another ominous development poses a further threat to wildlife. A pesticide is being used by poachers to kill lions and many other animals. Sprinkled on meat, it kills lions, hyenas, vultures and other creatures in minutes).

We don’t have much time. The biggest threat isn’t hunters, poachers or poison makers — it is our own complacency, the lazy hope that someone else is taking care of the great beasts of Africa.

Lions and other large predators are disappearing even as we learn more about the collapse of entire ecosystems. The $200 billion a year reaped from ecotourism will be lost, causing suffering among communities all over Africa that rely on this trade.

As explorers in residence at National Geographic, my wife, Beverly, and I are calling on everyone with even a remote interest in big cats, or in Africa, to make sure that these wild systems keep working well. Scientists, conservationists — everyone — must come together, work together and support this effort now: the Big Cats Initiative. It’s a movement that doesn’t want to exclude a single soul or leave out any idea on how to reduce the conflict. We have a short window of time in which we can remedy this. It is closing very rapidly.

Dereck Joubert and his wife, Beverly Joubert, are National Geographic explorers in residence. They have spent years making films and writing about the big cats of Africa. To view some of their photos and films, visit http://www.wildlifeconservationfilms.com. For more information, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/bigcats.

Tags: Beverly Joubert, big cats, carbofuran, Dereck Joubert, Lion, Lions, National Geographic, pesticides

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Category: Lions, Pride of Kenya, WildlifeDirect news, big cats, furadan, human wildlife conflict, predators, richard leakey | Date: Sep 08 2009 | By: Maina

WildlifeDirect issued this press release on Thursday, 3 September 2009 after Dr Richard Leakey inaugurated the ‘Androcles Lion’ by appending his signature as support for the campaign against lion (and other wildlife) poisoning using carbofurans (Furadan). The release received audience among readers of Nairobi’s Capital FM’s site, was picked by AFP, and blogged about at the Big Cat News blog. I thought you should also have the opportunity to refer to it.

Nairobi, 3 September 2009 - Renowned Kenyan conservationist, Dr Richard Leakey, who is also the chairman of WildlifeDirect, today inaugurated the display of the WildlifeDirect lion statue that will be creating public awareness about poisoning of lions by cattle herders using Furadan. The lion statue, which is part of the Pride of Kenya campaign to create awareness about the status of, and to raise funds for, conservation of Kenya’s remaining 2,100 lions, will be on public display at Yaya Centre, a popular shopping mall in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

On Tuesday, September 2, WildlifeDirect joined the Born Free Foundation in the official launch of the Pride of Kenya campaign at the Nairobi National Park. Integrated in this campaign to save the last lions of Kenya is the inauguration of WildlifeDirect’s call to have all carbofurans - especially Furadan, a lethal agricultural pesticide that is behind the death of 75 lions in the last 4 years - banned in Kenya.

With the life-sized lion statue christened The Androcles Lion as the centerpiece of their campaign, WildlifeDirect seeks to rally support from prominent Kenyans and the general public to have the deadly carbofuran class of pesticides banned from the Kenyan market by the Kenyan Parliament. The Androcles Lion, which is painted Fuchsia, the prominent colour on the retail packaging of the most used carbofuran in Kenya - Furadan - and with chains around it denoting bondage by these poisons, seeks to communicate the threat that carbofurans are posing to the survival of this charismatic species.

Prominent personalities such as Kenya’s renowned conservationist and anthropologist Dr Richard Leakey - who became the first person to endorse the campaign - UNEP Director Achim Steiner, Nobel Laureate Wangari Mathai among others, have been invited to show their support for the push to have Furadan banned in Kenya by inscribing a signed message supporting the ban on the body of the lion. The objective is to initiate public debate and support of the proposed ban such that Kenya’s Parliament will finally discuss the motion and eventually pass a law that makes it illegal to import, manufacture, repackage or sell this killer pesticide and anything else in it’s class.

Kenya’s lion population is declining at an alarming pace and climate change, habitat destruction and conflict with humans have been the key drivers for this precipitous fall in numbers. On Monday, August 17, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) announced that Kenya’s lion population has been declining by an average 100 animals per year in the last 7 years and now stands at a little over 2,000 individuals. In the 1970s there were about 30,000 lions in Kenya. Given the current decline rate, lions will become extinct in Kenya in just two decades. KWS spokesman Paul Udoto told the media on 17 August that “communities are the largest threat to the lions and other cats.”

It is through conservationists blogs hosted by WildlifeDirect that the widespread use of Furadan by cattle herders for retaliatory poisoning of lions suspected of killing livestock first came to the limelight. With increasing reports of lion and other predators as well as birds of prey and scavengers being poisoned using Furadan, WildlifeDirect convened, in 2007, a meeting to bring together affected conservationists and Furadan importation firms in order to chart a way forward in addressing this situation. The meeting resolved that a total ban on Furadan would be the best way to eliminate herders’ access to this lethal poison and thus reduce poisoning of lions. The Stop Wildlife Poisoning campaign was thus launched.

On 29 March this year, American broadcaster, CBS, aired a documentary showing the devastating effect that Furadan was having on Kenya’s lions. Following this documentary, and the information that WildlifeDirect had provided the Member of Parliament for Naivasha, Honourable John Mututho - who brought the issue to parliament - the question of banning Furadan was discussed in Parliament. Parliamentary recommendation was that a committee be formed to craft a notice that would, if integrated into law, make it illegal to import Furadan and other carbofurans into Kenya. The Honourable Minister for Wildlife and Natural Resources, Dr Noah Wekesa, instructed that that committee be formed.

With the distinctively pink lion with a mane covered with replica Kenyan currency notes, representing the greed that is driving the sales of a poison that has already been banned in the US and Europe WildlifeDirect will continue to drum up support to the member for Naivasha and all those parliamentarians who support banning the substance. WildlifeDirect’s quest is to end the poisoning of lions by herders using Furadan, and that is the message that the Androcles Lion will be sending as it goes on public display at Yaya Centre.

WildlifeDirect is a non-profit conservation organization based in Kenya that uses the internet to create awareness about conservation issues and to raise funds for conservation through Web Logs (blogs) written by field conservationists. WildlifeDirect endeavors to create a movement powerful enough to produce a virtual endowment capable of reversing the catastrophic loss of habitats and species. WildlifeDirect is Registered as a charity in the USA and in Kenya.

# # #

For more information and high-res pictures contact:
Samuel Maina maina@wildlifedirect.org

Low res pictures of the inauguration by Dr Leakey are published in the Baraza blog http://baraza.wildlifedirect.org/2009/09/03/the-mighty-androcles-lion-comes-home/

To learn more about the Stop Wildlife Poisoning campaign go to http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org

The CBS 60 Minutes documentary can be found here
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/26/60minutes/main4894945.shtml

The Pride of Kenya campaign website is http://www.prideofkenya.co.ke/ and their blog here http://prideofkenya.wildlifedirect.org/

Tags: extinct, furadan, Lions, poisoning, Pride of Kenya, richard leakey

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Category: Africa, Climate change, In the News, Kenya, Lions, National Parks and protected areas, Rhinoceros, big cats, drought, national parks, richard leakey, tourism, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Sep 05 2009 | By: admin

In a previous story about cattle dying in the Nairobi Park We have been going purple in the face trying to raise awareness about the public health, ecological and economic threat facing Kenya as a consequence of uncontrolled movements of cattle during the current drought.

This is Dauti Kahura  story published in today’s East African Standard

A week ago, a man died of anthrax in Nyeri after eating infected cow meat. A week earlier, although not reported, two rhinos from Nairobi National Park died of anthrax. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) confirmed the cause of deaths.

The death of the man should raise the red flag. There is great fear that some of the meat being sold in and around Kitengela and Ongata Rongai butcheries could be contaminated with anthrax, foot and mouth and east coast fever. Investigations by The Standard on Saturday revealed that sick and dying cattle are slaughtered on the roadsides and expose nearby communities to outbreaks.

Temporary bomas

Last week, five kilometres into Masai Lodge Road in Ongata Rongai where herders have set up temporary bomas, The Standard on Saturday team found sickly cattle being slaughtered for distribution to neighbouring butcheries.

Mr Rolf Schmid, a restaurateur who has lived in the area for almost two decades, raised the alarm.

“My first instinct was to contact the Ministry of Health and veterinary officials to come and witness the slaughter of dying cattle,” he said.

The Ministry of Public Health officers and vets from Kajiado concur that some of the cattle appeared sickly although not all were emaciated. The Government health officials, who sought anonymity because they are not authorised to be quoted, confirmed that the animals pose danger.

Due to drought, Maasai herders drive the cattle up to the city and many of them are kept in bomas along Mombasa Road. Tens of thousands of cattle that have been migrating from Loitokitok, Tsavo West, Kibwezi, Sultan Hamud and Kajiado are also being held in bomas on the northern and southern sides of the Nairobi National Park.

By day, these cattle are hosted on the local ranches around the park and by night driven inside it for grazing. Early this week, The Standard on Saturday observed hundreds of cattle being driven into the park on the southern end from the Masai Lodge Road. Tired and exhausted, they walked in a profile, with some not completing the journey.

herding in parks

According to a KWS senior warden, herders have been cutting the fence to allow large numbers of cattle into the park. KWS impounded 1,000 cattle and when the herders came for them the next day, they said some of the animals belong to “well connected Kenyans”.

Due to severe drought and exhaustion of grazing fields, Nairobi National Park is the only location in city with ample grazing field.

But now it is also massively threatened with decimation. More worrying is the fact that the wild animals are also at great risk of being infected with diseases. KWS officials say some antelopes have been infected with foot and mouth.

Tags: anthrax, cattle, Dauti Kahura, Lion, Lions, LIvestock, Nairobi Park, rhino, wildlifedirect

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Category: Africa, Kenya, Lions, Mara Triangle, Pride of Kenya, poaching, predators, wildlifedirect | Date: Aug 27 2009 | By: paula

Kenya’s lions are in trouble. Over 30,000 lions once prowled the wildlands of Kenya, today only 2100 are left! About 70 lions die each year after eating carcasses laced with deadly pesticides.

So what has a pink lion got to do with conservation? Well, if you haven’t guessed it already - the poisoning of lions using the pesticide carbofuran (Furadan) is thought to be the main cause for the decline of our lions, and it could push Kenya’s tiny population over the brink and into extinction.

The first thing you notice is that the Androcles lion is painted magenta pink.

It’s the colour of the brand Furadan, which is made in USA by the firm FMC and is distributed by Juanco SPS in Kenya.

Every lion in Kenya is estimated to be worth US$ 1 million. This is why the Androcles lions mane is made up of a thick layer of cash (photocopied money under permission from the Central Bank of Kenya). Money is also why lions are endangered, the commercial value of carbofuran is one of the main reaons why this dangerous poisonous product is being sold in Kenya. After realising that Furadan is killing lions, FMC said they have withdrawn Furadan from East Africa - but it’s still available in shops in Kenya and Uganda.

The Androcles lion is bound in a silver chain, each link is labeled, with the impacts of the chain reaction caused by this pesticide. On farms it kills insects, which are eaten by rodents, birds and small mammals. Hippos, antelopes, cattle and other wildlife eat the crops covered in Furadan and when they die, vultures, hyenas and other scavengers eat the carcasses and in turn they get poisoned. Many animals die from deliberate poisoning including lions, eagles, wading birds, and animals deemed to be pests like baboons, moles, stray dogs and rats. Some birds and even fish are poisoned for human consumption - so Furadan also threatens humans. Dino Martins has told us that bees and many other valuable insects are especially vulnerable to this deadly pesticide.

Although carbofuran sold in Kenya, it is made in USA where its use has been banned there due to its deadly effects on wildlife. To break the chain we must ban carbouradan in Kenya, Africa and the world (Carbofuran is currently banned in the EU and the EPA has revoked all tolerances for carbofuran in USA).

The Androcles lion will stand on a concrete base at the Yaya shopping center in Hurlingham just a stones throw from the offices of WidlifeDirect. The base will be covered in crushed purple glass, just like the purple granules of the pesticide. Carbofuran granules are purple but is hardly visible when sprinkled on a carcass. It has no taste or smell, it kills anything that eats the carcass, including lions, hyenas, jackals, and vultures. It only takes a few granules of Furadan sprinkled on a cow carcass to kill an entire pride of lions.

We owe so many people BIG thank you’s

1. Peter Greste for taking the lovely photos
2. The BBC Network Africa for airing the story on World News!
3. David Mascal a lion lover like no other - for the roar - you’ll hear it soon!
4. Boy Genius Tonee Ndungu who is creating something we can’t talk about yet
5. Elizabeth Klem, MD of the Yaya Center who gratiously agreed to host the Androcles lion for the next 2 months
6. The Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya who approved the wild idea of using photocopied Kenyan currency on the lions mane (yes it’s illegal without permission)
7. The Card Center in Yaya for fabulous poster pens - we’ll tell you about those later
8. John Muturi, Val Leakey and Mr Mwangi and all the Friends of the Nairobi City Park who initially offered to host the Androcles lion. It wasn’t possible this time - but perhaps next time?
9. Jake Grieves Cook for donation of a prize - weekend for two at a luxury camp in Masai Mara - we’ll tell you about the raffle later
10. Alice and Wanja of the Born Free Foundation for their patience and amazing tolerance - you guys are amazing

and most of all

THANK YOU MARY COLLIS - an amazing Kenyan woman who worked 24/7 to get the Androcles Lion ready on time.

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Tags: Androcles, Lion, Lions, wildlifedirect

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Category: Africa, Kenya, Lions, big cats, conservation | Date: Aug 25 2009 | By: paula

The decline of Kenya’s lions has become the talk of the bloggosphere. Adam Shake on Twilight Earth blog reminds us taht the main threat facing Kenya’s lion is teh poisoning using Furadan, a problem that WildilfeDirect has been instrumental in raising awareness about.

And an education activist called @aureliom posted this on Twitter

Lion Dethroned, Bemoaned

Kenya losing 100 lions every year: conservation group

We’re losing lions in Kenya by the hundreds.

The Wildlife Service warns they could disappear

Within twenty years: a naturalist’s dreads.

It’s just that humans are moving in too near.

The open spaces globally invaded

Diminish land and corner animals everywhere:

The flora, fauna, jungles dense green bladed

Are disappearing, leaving beasts no home there.

Returning to the jungle king dethroned,

The reasons given for concerned protection

Are not the ones zoologists bemoaned:

Regreting safari loss, tourist defection!

Inhabitants of kingdom wild must exist:

How creeping human spread to cease, desist?

The Pride of Kenya campaign will raise enormous awareness in Kenya about how close our lions are to extinction. With only 2000 left, they could go extinct with in 20 years, or less. Please help us spread awarness about the plight of lions, tell your friends, send us your ideas, donations and any advice on how we can solve the problem of lion declines in Africa. Visit our lion blogs to find out more about innovative approaches to save wild lions in Kenya. Ewaso Lions, Lion Guradians and Predator Aware.

Technorati : conservation, kenya, killing, lion, poaching, wildlife, wildlifedirect
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Tags: conservation, Kenya, killing, Lion, poaching, wildlife, wildlifedirect

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Category: Africa, Kenya, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, Pride of Kenya, furadan | Date: Aug 23 2009 | By: paula

As the artists gear up to complete their lions, we’ve been sneaking in to get first impressions - well, here are three amazing lions I saw today.

Here’s Butterflion and his creator - yes you guessed correctly, its our very own Dr Dudulittle, Dino Martins our resident entomologist who writes Dudu diaries. This lion sponsored by Kenya Data Networks (KDN) is a puzzle of butterflies and other bugs that children will have to find…Dino has hidden little gems like ticks in uncomfortable places..you’ll have to come see it Butterflion to understand

Ole Simba is a mosaic lion being put together by these two absolutely lovely ladies (talk about gigantuan patience! It’s slow hard work)

And Mr. Bones reveals the insides of the lion, sadly the artist, an apprentice with Nani Croze of Kitengela Glass was not there but her work is pretty amazing!

His other side is totally different

Pretty impressive aren’t they?

The artists working at Kitengela on the edge of Nairobi National Park are especially motivated because the parks lions are in peril. These artists are busy working away to complete the lions by the big day - September 2nd which is the launch of the Pride of Kenya. It will take place at KWS head quarters and the 50 lions will be loaded onto trucks and taken to Uhuru Park in Nairobi’s city center. The KWS band is apparently going to play! It should be great fun.

Every one is very excited, Nairobi is certainly in for a very interesting experience.

If you want to participate but are not in Nairobi you can! Just send us a message or a promise to lions and we will make sure that it will be seen. You can also tell all your friends, share the information with your networks on Face book or Myspace, twitter etc, Send us ideas of activities that we can conduct during the next two months to inspire the world to care about lions.and if you have a spare dollar, send us a donation and we’ll use it for kids activities. If you don’t have a spare dollar, why not send a letter to someone you know who will sponsor this event? If you’d like to know more about how you can help, email me on paula@wildlifedirect.org I really look forward to hearing from you

To follow the event Pride of Kenya please visit our blog “Pride of Kenya“. The event is a collaboration between The Born Free Foundation and a British organization called Wild in Art (remember Go Elephants in Norwich, or Superlambbanana in Liverpool…well Pride of Kenya is part of that series).

 There are only 2100 lions left in Kenya - help us save them, Donate now

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Technorati : Born Free, Lion, Pride of Kenya, WildlifeDirect, conservation, endangered animals, wildlife

Tags: Born Free, conservation, endangered animals, Lion, Pride of Kenya, wildlife, wildlifedirect

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Category: Climate change, Emergencies, Kenya, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, drought, national parks, poaching, wildlifedirect | Date: Aug 17 2009 | By: paula

A race against time

Published in the East African Standard

By Dauti Kahura

Conservationists and wildlife experts have sounded alarm bells over declining numbers of wildlife, which contributes 70 per cent of the country’s tourism earnings.

“What is happening with the wildlife is worse than the degradation of the Mau complex,” says Dr Joseph Ogutu, an ecologist with the International Livestock Research Institute (Ilri) based in Nairobi. “The decline of wildlife is real and frightening and we need to act fast,” he says.

Ogutu says the decline is in the protected and non-protected areas. Protected areas are the national parks and game reserves while the non-protected ones are pastoral lands and group ranches that surround parks and reserves. Two weeks ago, a conference in Beijing, China heard that the number of wildlife in East Africa is being depleted.

Dr Paula Kahumbu of Wildlife Direct, who attended the conference, says Kenya’s wildlife is at greater risk of eradication.

The country loses between four and five per cent of its wildlife annually. The Department of Remote Sensing and Resource Surveys (DRSRS), a Government department formerly known as Kenya Rangeland Ecological Monitoring Unit, says wildlife has declined by more than a third over the last 25 years.

Kenya has 23 parks, which fall directly under the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and 26 national reserves, which are under the district administration.

The country also has the largest bio-diversity of large animals in the world. Masai Mara has the largest concentration of wildlife and hosts 25 per cent of the national total, underscoring its importance.

With this resource under threat, conservationists say the Government should use all means to preserve it. Ogutu, who has been doing research in the Mara ecosystem since 1989, says drought, changing land use, climate change and poaching are a threat to the resource.

“KWS is in denial of what’s happening,” says Ogutu.

KWS’ TAKE

He says the organisation is only present in the national parks and the game reserves but absent at the group and private ranches. The unprotected areas hold about 65 per cent of the total wildlife and hence hold the key to the future. KWS has refuted claims of wildlife decline. Corporate Communications Manager Paul Udoto says KWS cannot conclusively say whether the animals are decreasing or increasingly generally. Udoto says one could only talk of specific species.

Ogutu lists the most affected parks as Masai Mara Game Reserve, an area that covers 5,600sq km, Tsavo East and West, Meru National Park, Nairobi National Park, which includes the Athi Kaputiei ecosystem. Lake Nakuru National Park has also been affected. The Athi Kaputiei, for instance, had one of the most spectacular migrations of wildebeest after Mara but the migration has all but fizzled. At the height of the migration, the animals ranged between 10,000-15,000 in the early 1990s.

“Today, it would be a spectacle if you spotted 300 wildebeests,” says Ogutu.

The situation at the Nairobi National Park, the only park within a 10km radius of a metropolis in the world, is severe. This is because of the drying up of its only permanent river, Athi River.

“Many crocodiles, hippos and fish have died,” says Ogutu. Poaching has also been cited as one of greatest factors leading to the decline. Richard Leakey, who is the founding director of KWS, says poaching could be on an unprecedented scale perhaps not experienced since the days of Wildlife Conservation and Management Department, the KWS predecessor.

“When former President Moi asked me 1989 to redirect the conservation of wildlife, poaching was rampant,” recalls Leakey.

He says black and white rhinos have been lost in large numbers in the protected and unprotected areas and KWS does not know the exact number of the species so it cannot quantify the loss. Leakey believes rangers could be abetting poaching. KWS senior wardens who sought anonymity concurred.

“Our rangers have become demoralised and demotivated, it is true they are abetting the wildlife poaching especially the big mammals like elephants and the rhino, said a senior warden at the KWS headquarters.

Human Intrusion

Tsavo East and West national parks have one third of the total number of all the elephants in the country. There are currently 38,000 elephants. Although the numbers have been on the increase, about 400 elephants are lost yearly, says Leakey.

Another major crisis that is threatening the existence of wildlife is the cattle incursion in the parks. Udoto concedes KWS is aware livestock owners are encroaching on the parks to the detriment of wildlife.

In the Nairobi National Park, it is estimated about 20,000 cows graze there at night.

Some livestock owners claim to pay Sh10 per cow to the rangers to be allowed into the park. Besides depleting food resources, livestock could carry diseases that are harmful to the wildlife.

Technorati : East African Standard, KWS, Kenya wildlife service, drought, kenya, lion, poaching, wildlife

Tags: drought, East African Standard, Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service, KWS, Lion, poaching, wildlife

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Category: Americas, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, conservation, furadan | Date: Aug 13 2009 | By: Maina

We received this press release from the good people at the University of Pittsburgh news section. I think it’s a wake-up call to government agencies charged with regulating pesticides. This gross oversight on the part of the EPA should scare you and make you ask yourself: ‘who is safe these days?’

The dangers that pesticides pose to wildlife is immense and although the researchers in this report used only amphibians, we can all imagine what implication these poisons would have on large mammals and other species. I am particularly reminded of the danger already posed by Furadan on lions and other predators, birds of prey and scavengers. Maybe you need to read along and see this for yourself, for these poisons are not only a danger to wildlife, but also to humans.

August 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:   Morgan Kelly
[412-624-4356 (office); 412-897-1400 (cell); mekelly@pitt.edu]

Pitt Research Suggests EPA Standard for Pesticide Safety Overlooks Poisons’
Long-term Effects

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry article reports “lag effect,”
revealing that harmful effects can remain hidden until after EPA’s four-day
direct exposure test

PITTSBURGH-The four-day testing period the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) commonly uses to determine safe levels of pesticide exposure
for humans and animals could fail to account for the toxins’ long-term
effects, University of Pittsburgh researchers report in the September
edition of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

The team found that the highly toxic pesticide endosulfan-a neurotoxin
banned in several nations but still used extensively in U.S. agriculture-can
exhibit a “lag effect” with the fallout from exposure not surfacing until
after direct contact has ended. Lead author Devin Jones, a recent Pitt
biological sciences graduate, conducted the experiment under Rick Relyea, an
associate professor of biological sciences in Pitt’s School of Arts and
Sciences, with collaboration from Pitt post-doctoral researcher John
Hammond. The paper is available on Pitt’s Web site at
http://www.pitt.edu/news2009/Endosulfan.pdf

The team exposed nine species of frog and toad tadpoles to endosulfan levels
“expected and found in nature” for the EPA’s required four-day period, then
moved the tadpoles to clean water for an additional four days, Jones
reported. Although endosulfan was ultimately toxic to all species, three
species of tadpole showed no significant sensitivity to the chemical until
after they were transferred to fresh water. Within four days of being moved,
up to 97 percent of leopard frog tadpoles perished along with up to 50
percent of spring peeper and American toad tadpoles.

Of most concern, explained Relyea, is that tadpoles and other amphibians are
famously sensitive to pollutants and considered an environmental indicator
species. The EPA does not require testing on amphibians to determine
pesticide safety, but Relyea previously found that endosulfan is 1,000-times
more lethal to amphibians than other pesticides. Yet, he said, if the
powerful insecticide cannot kill one the world’s most susceptible species in
four days, then the four-day test period may not adequately gauge the
long-term effects on larger, less-sensitive species.

“When a pesticide’s toxic effect takes more than four days to appear, it
raises serious concerns about making regulatory decisions based on standard
four-day tests for any organism,” Relyea said. “For most pesticides, we
assume that animals will die during the period of exposure, but we do not
expect substantial death after the exposure has ended. Even if EPA
regulations required testing on amphibians, our research demonstrates that
the standard four-day toxicity test would have dramatically underestimated
the lethal impact of endosulfan on even this notably sensitive species.”

Andrew Blaustein, a professor in Oregon State University’s nationally ranked
Department of Zoology, who is familiar with the Pitt study, said the results
raise concerns about standards for other chemicals and the delayed dangers
that might be overlooked. Some of the frog eggs the Pitt team used had been
collected by Blaustein’s students for an earlier unrelated experiment, but
he had no direct role in the current research.

“The results are somewhat alarming because standards for assessing the
impacts of contaminants are usually based on short-term studies that may be
insufficient in revealing the true impact,” Blaustein said. “The
implications of this study go beyond a single pesticide and its effect on
amphibians. Many other animals and humans may indeed be affected similarly.”

Tadpoles in the Pitt project spent four days in 0.5 liters of water
containing endosulfan concentrations of 2, 6, 7, 35, 60, and 296
parts-per-billion (ppb), levels consistent with those found in nature. The
team cites estimates from Australia-where endosulfan is widely used-that the
pesticide can reach 700 ppb when sprayed as close as 10 meters from the
ponds amphibians typically call home and 4 ppb when sprayed within 200
meters. The EPA estimates that surface drinking water can have chronic
endosulfan levels of 0.5 to 1.5 ppb and acute concentrations of 4.5 to 23.9 ppb.

Leopard frogs, spring peepers, and American toads fared well during the
experiment’s first four days, but once they were in clean water, the death
rate spiked for animals previously exposed to 35 and 60 ppb. Although the
other six species did not experience the lag effect, the initial doses of
endosulfan were still devastating at very low concentrations. Grey and
Pacific tree frogs, Western toads, and Cascades frogs began dying in large
numbers from doses as low as 7 ppb, while the same amount killed all green
frog and bullfrog tadpoles.

The endosulfan findings build on a 10-year effort by Relyea to understand
the potential links between the global decline in amphibians, routine
pesticide use, and the possible threat to humans in the future.

A second paper by Relyea and Jones also in the current Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry expands on one of Relyea’s most notable
investigations, a series of findings published in Ecological Applications in
2005 indicating that the popular weed-killer Roundup® is “extremely lethal”
to amphibians in concentrations found in the environment. The latest work
determined the toxicity of Roundup Original Max for a wider group of larval
amphibians, including nine frog and toad species and four salamander
species. The report is available on Pitt’s Web site at
http://www.pitt.edu/news2009/Roundup.pdf

In November 2008, Relyea reported in Oecologia that the world’s 10 most
popular pesticides-which have been detected in nature-combine to create
“cocktails of contaminants” that can destroy amphibian populations, even if
the concentration of each individual chemical is within levels considered
safe to humans and animals. The mixture killed 99 percent of leopard frog
tadpoles and endosulfan alone killed 84 percent.

A month earlier, Relyea published a paper in Ecological Applications
reporting that gradual amounts of malathion-the most popular insecticide in
the United States-too small to directly kill developing leopard frog
tadpoles instead sparked a biological chain reaction that deprived them of
their primary food source. As a result, nearly half the tadpoles in the
experiment did not reach maturity and would have died in nature.

News releases about Relyea’s previous work are available on Pitt’s Web site
at http://www.news.pitt.edu

###

8/12/09/tmw

Tags: amphibians, EPA, Frogs, pesticides, poison, University of Pittsburgh, USA

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Category: Kenya, Lions, Mara Triangle, Mau Forest Complex, National Parks and protected areas, conservation, national parks | Date: Aug 04 2009 | By: paula

The drought in Kenya is having terrible consequences for everyone especially in arid areas which are sending out appeals for help.

Wildlife is also at risk. Today, yet again, I came across herds of starving cattle in the Nairobi National Park.  The problem is provoking a muted response especially from KWS who seem hesitant to chase them out.  Some people think that this is the right “for humanitarian response”, and I’m hopping mad.According to the IUCN, a national park is meant to be a protected area where natural ecosystems are not materially altered by human exploitation or occupation and where the competent authority (KWS) takes steps to prevent or eliminate such impacts. National Parks are used for inspirational, educative, cultural and recreative purposes.

The KWS Vision is “To be a world leader in wildlife conservation” and it’s Mission is “To sustainably conserve and manage Kenya’s wildlife and its habitat in collaboration with stakeholders for posterity”.

SO, WHAT ARE LIVESTOCK DOING IN KENYA’S NATIONAL PARKS?

Even though Livestock is critical to our economy and contributes 12% of the GDP, the Kenyan government has failed Kenyan herders. Pastoralist occupy the ASAL areas (arid and semi arid lands) which make up two thirds of the country’s surface area. But very little has been done to help them. Historically the colonial government dispossessed land from pastoral communities, and our current government has been complacent and allows our political elite to benefit from the status quo by serving their private interests.

I believe that corruption in public institutions may be the greatest cause of Kenya’s economic decline, environmental degradation, and deepening poverty for millions of people.   It has created a humanitarian situation, for many Kenyans livestock keeping is a matter of survival.

This is why every time there are problems in the northern range lands, like droughts, conflict and disease, cattle are herded into the parks as a refuge.

KWS may in fact be powerless to stop them unless they take on a political war.

But does this effect conservation? Should we allow cattle in the parks?

I say “Hell No!! Chase them out as fast as possible!”  You may think me heartless in demanding that KWS drive the starving cattle and poor communities out of the parks. But  the long term consequence will cripple us – look at the devastating implications of corruption and impunity as a result of the destruction of the Mau forests.  Kenya’s entire economy is suffering and some 2,100 people will soon be homeless because of the greed of a few politicians.

There are also short term consequences of allowing cattle into our parks during droughts. Tourism is the backbone of this faltering economy, can we afford to ask visitors to pay $60 dollars per visit to see this?

Cattle taken into park after closing hours - Photo taken 6.20 pm last night at Nairobi National Park

Or this?

Photo taken 8.30 am this morning in Nairobi National Park despite several reports to KWS

Instead of this?

To me the answer to the cattle in the park problem is simple. Would the KWS director, or any of our ministers allow these sick starving cattle onto their personal property where their grazing would eat entire crops and destroy flower garden leaving a dust bowl and lots of parasites and diseases? Of course not!

Why is it that conservation areas are seen as opportunities to soften the devastating impacts our other failed policies? Numerous reports have concluded that the livestock ministry and related government departments, as well as our greedy political elite are  responsible for the crisis facing our cattle today. They created this problem, they must solve it.

In my opinion, letting cattle into the parks will not solve the problem any more than loosening the belt of an obese man will help him manage his weight.

What do you think? How can we send that message loud and clear that the Parks should not be used as emergency fodder for livestock during extreme droughts?

Tags: drought, human wildlife conflict, Kenya, Lions, national parks, poaching, wildlife

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